Giat garners MVC "Athlete of the Week" honors for second time this year
10/09/2001 | 12:00:00 | Cross Country
Oct. 9, 2001
CARBONDALE -- - On the strength of his third place finish at last Saturday's Saluki Invitational, Southern Illinois Unversity sophomore Doron Giat has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country "Athlete of the Week" for the second time this season.
Giat clocked in with a time of 24 minutes, 57 seconds in the men's 8,000 meter race, just behind SIU alum Joe Parks (24:40) and champion William Kenney of Belmont (24:03.65). Giat led the Salukis to a second place finish in a race that featured 131 runners and 15 teams. Giat, a native of Israel, was competing in just his third collegiate meet in the United States. Giat has wasted little time in making an impact however, as he opened his Saluki career with a first place finish at the SIU Fast Start Open on September, 1 and added a 12th-place time out of 152 runners at the Illinois Invitational on September 22nd. Giat's performance in the Fast Start Open garnered him his first MVC "Athlete of the Week" honor.
In addition, Giat's performance catapulted him into the No. 5 spot on the Missouri Valley Conference best list for an 8K race.
Giat will be back in action with the SIU men's team this weekend as the Salukis will travel to Normal to compete in the Illinois State Invitational, which was originally scheduled for September 15, but was postponed due to the national tragedy. The SIU women will be competing at the Penn State Invitational on Saturday.